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After working for 20 years with weekly status, switching to daily status is a big change. It removes developer autonomy and responsibility. Instead of toughin

by diydsp 6y ago

After working for 20 years with weekly status, switching to daily status is a big change. It removes developer autonomy and responsibility. Instead of toughing it out and trying different ways to solve a problem, we report our status and management leads us in a different direction each morning. Instead of gaining breadth, we get emasculated. Minor problems get elevated to obsessions, inverting priorities. Over the longer time frame, all the intelligence of the leader is "harvested" and ant-like developers haven't been practicing problem-solving skill so progress ossifies, but people still feel busy because they're trying new things every day. And the new things are only from the repertoire of the leader who isn't developing either. But hey we have chip makers speeding up chips every year, so this will continue. This honestly used to be much more fun in the old days. It was less productive, of course, but also less reverent. It didn't feel like a morning mass or pledge of allegiance, more like the Superfriends.

sverhagen 6y ago
This sounds like a team that would be dysfunctional at doing weekly updates as much as it is now at doing daily stand-ups, except that you get bothered by it five times more often not. Don't blame Agile/daily stand-ups...
- jiofih 6y ago
  People are a product of their environment as much as the other way around.
deanCommie 6y ago
Man, you must have worked at some really toxic workplaces. I could write a paragraph reputing point by point every single one of your sentences in a healthy organization. All I can really say is you should consider switching jobs. You'll have to take my word for it today but it's way better out there, and you can join a company and a team that will make you feel like NONE of those things (yet still have daily standups)
- zimpenfish 6y ago
  > Man, you must have worked at some really toxic workplaces. Me too, then, because that accurately describes every Agile workplace I've been in the last 10+ years. (I will concede that a lot of those were contracts and almost by definition, if they're hiring contractors to come in as emergency fixers, things are not going well anyway.)
altacc 6y ago
I think this is as much an issue with your leadership roles than it is with daily stand ups in general. I worked with teams where stand ups are requested & seen as important by the team. Personally, I see the aim of stand up to inform the team of work in case it is relevant to them & ask for help if needed. How the leads of the team react determines how good a lead they are. Developers should have enough autonomy to feel they are working well & able to properly investigate, problem solve and design solutions, without affecting the overall efficiency of the team. One of the more difficult aspects of a team lead role is balancing all the different personalities and work preferences in that team. Consider that "toughing it out" might be a desired work practice for some people but for others it's the opposite, it's leaving them struggling for longer than they need/want to be. Stand ups offer a chance to identify those situations, as not every developer will ask for help when they need it. The post stand-up follow up should then considers the individual developer's wishes (e.g. you should be able to ask to tough it out for longer, probably as long as it's not a critical blocker for other work) and that seems to be one of the places your leadership is going wrong.

by diydsp 6y ago

sverhagen 6y ago

This sounds like a team that would be dysfunctional at doing weekly updates as much as it is now at doing daily stand-ups, except that you get bothered by it five times more often not. Don't blame Agile/daily stand-ups...

jiofih 6y ago
People are a product of their environment as much as the other way around.

deanCommie 6y ago

Man, you must have worked at some really toxic workplaces. I could write a paragraph reputing point by point every single one of your sentences in a healthy organization. All I can really say is you should consider switching jobs. You'll have to take my word for it today but it's way better out there, and you can join a company and a team that will make you feel like NONE of those things (yet still have daily standups)

zimpenfish 6y ago
> Man, you must have worked at some really toxic workplaces. Me too, then, because that accurately describes every Agile workplace I've been in the last 10+ years. (I will concede that a lot of those were contracts and almost by definition, if they're hiring contractors to come in as emergency fixers, things are not going well anyway.)

altacc 6y ago

I think this is as much an issue with your leadership roles than it is with daily stand ups in general. I worked with teams where stand ups are requested & seen as important by the team. Personally, I see the aim of stand up to inform the team of work in case it is relevant to them & ask for help if needed. How the leads of the team react determines how good a lead they are. Developers should have enough autonomy to feel they are working well & able to properly investigate, problem solve and design solutions, without affecting the overall efficiency of the team. One of the more difficult aspects of a team lead role is balancing all the different personalities and work preferences in that team. Consider that "toughing it out" might be a desired work practice for some people but for others it's the opposite, it's leaving them struggling for longer than they need/want to be. Stand ups offer a chance to identify those situations, as not every developer will ask for help when they need it. The post stand-up follow up should then considers the individual developer's wishes (e.g. you should be able to ask to tough it out for longer, probably as long as it's not a critical blocker for other work) and that seems to be one of the places your leadership is going wrong.